Sept. 24, 2024

This week’s Up-and-Comer is Logan Penfield, housing development manager for the city of Sioux Falls.

Name: Logan Penfield

Age: 35

Hometown: Cresbard

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

I moved out of South Dakota for almost nine years shortly after graduating college — Go Jacks! I managed to convince my wife, who’s from Buffalo, New York, to move to Sioux Falls –in January! — after I received an offer to become government affairs director for the Realtor Association of the Sioux Empire.

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

Everything. Sioux Falls has so much going on and has a variety of things to do for everyone. It is a growing city that still has the same small-town familiarity that makes South Dakota such a special place.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

I have spent most of my career in public service. It sounds a little corny to say, but I really enjoy going to work every day with an overarching mission of ‘how can I help serve and improve my community.’ As a way of doing that, housing is a challenging and exciting field to be working in right now, and I have the opportunity to work with, and for, some really impressive leaders across the industry and community.

How did you get connected to your industry?

I spent 1.5 years working for the Realtor Association of the Sioux Empire, which allowed me to immerse myself in the housing industry. When I was hired by RASE, my boss had set up some introductory lunches with industry leaders. The first industry — and community — leader I had the opportunity to sit down with was Jeff Nelson. Jeff has been and continues to be a valuable leader in the housing community, and I have been fortunate to learn from and get to know him during my time in Sioux Falls.

Describe your workplace in three words.

Exciting, challenging, collaborative.

What is something someone might be surprised to learn about you?

I play baseball every Sunday throughout the summer in the Sioux Amateur Baseball League — and pretty much every evening at home with my baseball-loving toddler. He has a pretty good arm already!

What’s your favorite way to give back to your community?

I really appreciate that my workplaces here have stressed community service and provided opportunities to volunteer with local nonprofits. There are so many organizations here doing wonderful work and really helping our community. I’ve enjoyed the opportunities to volunteer with several of them: Veterans Community Project, The Banquet, Feeding South Dakota and others. They are tremendous assets to our community, and it’s a nice change of pace from being behind a desk!

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now?

If I answer this with anything but Trader Joe’s, my wife might change the locks.

If you had $1 million to start a business, what kind of business would it be?

I could talk about sports all day long, and my buddies and I have always joked about starting a podcast so we had dedicated time to share our “expert” opinions. I’m sure no one would listen, but with a solid financial backing upfront, we could keep the bit going for a while!